Deborah Martin Owens

Deborah joined WCC as a Board Member in 2016. Her leadership roles included serving as a Chair of the Bylaws Committee in 2018, as well as Chair of the Board of Directors from 2020 through September 2023.

Deborah Martin Owens is the Director of Diversity & Inclusion, Talent Development at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, Before joining Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, Deborah served as the Global Director of Diversity Equity & Inclusion at Vinson & Elkins. Deborah’s success in her role was due to her ability to leverage her expertise in talent management, executive coaching, thought leadership, planning budgeting & forecasting, and change management to build strong relationships with stakeholders and drive the company’s diversity and inclusion initiatives.

Deborah was previously an attorney in the New York Office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, where she focused on a broad range of complex commercial litigation. She has held leadership positions in various organizations, including the Nation Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association and the Metropolitan Black Bar Association. Among her several awards, she is an inaugural recipient of the Shirley Stewart Farmer Women of Excellence Award given by the NAACP Mid-Manhattan Branch, the Metropolitan Black Bar Association and the National Association of Women Judges. She served on the board of the Metropolitan Black Bar Association and Friends of the Island Academy.

A graduate of the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University, she was a Judicial Intern for Honorable Sonia Sotomayor when she sat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.